A Growing Relationship
by Monezyo
Summary: Raven and Beastboy. Some say water and oil mix together better than these two. And they're not completely wrong... still, put them together long enough and even they'll become besties, right? Right?
1. Indifference

Indifference

Robin was seated on the couch, coffee in one hand and remote in the other, quickly zapping through various channels, trying to find anything of interest. With little success, obviosly.

The truth was that his mind was wandering far too much off for anything to catch his interest.

Thoughs about his team (and more importantly, worry about its dinamics) filled his detective head.

Now, Robin was a realistic boy. He hasn't been trained by Batman for nothing, after all. He was sure that all of his teammates were in for the ride, and that they were serious about it. He trusted them on this. What he wasn't sure was if they could manage to set their differences apart and learn to work together. The Titans were a relatively new group, formed about two months ago, but he wasn't new to the whole superhero ordeal, and he knew how dangerous things could get out there, face to face to psycotic, murderous and/or extremely powerful villains.

Sure, every one of them knew how to handle him/herself in a fight. Damn, he was pretty sure some of them could actually handle an entire city-worth of criminals, city included (coughrageravencough). But when you have to manage to survive the fight, save civilian lives and actually knock off and turn in the bandit, things can get a little complicated. Especially if the team you're working with is an unorganized and fragile one. Better alone than ill escorted, or some other nonsense...

Sipping his coffee, Robin glanced at the clock. "7:02 am"

 _Mmh... stange, she's two minutes lat..._

Click. Swoosh.

 _Oh, there she is._

"Goodmorning Raven."

"Good morning." Emotionless, as always.

She went straight to the kitchen, probably for some herbal tea.

A frown formed above his eyes. _That's exactly what I'm worried about. No camaraderie whatsoever._

Picking the remote, he decided to resume his TV zapping, eventualy stopping on a cartoon dedicated channel, to let the heavy thoughts on his mind fade away a little. He was probably overthinking it anyway.

It wasn't 30 minutes later that he sawhow he underestimated his companions.

Both Cyborg and Starfire entered the room, chatting amicably.

"... and so she says: "But I CANNOT drive!" Hahaha! Because she wasn't actually ABLE to! Haha!"

"I fail to see the comic connection. If she wasn't able to drive the car, why did he ask her for the help?"

"Urgh, how can I explain one of the greatest human prejudice in a reasonable amount of time..?"

A small smirk appeared on Robin's lips. "Still trying to teach her the fondamentals of human society, Cy?"

Cyborg crossed his arms, trying to look as seriuos as possible. Still the edge of his lips were curled upwards. "Well, someone has to. You may be laughin' now, but what would happen if, one day, she'll be the one laughin' at one of BB's jokes?"

Robin face blanked, too shocked to manage an answer.

It was actually Raven, who was reading a book in a corner of the sofa, the one to reply.

"May we never find out."

Her eyes never left the book, and her expression was deadpan as usual (even more than usual, he noticed), but the fact alone that she was listening, and that she even participated to their friendly banter, was enough to put most of Robin's worries to rest. _Maybe it's not that bad. A little more time, and I'm sure this team will be as united as anything can be._

"I don't understand. Does that mean that friend Beast Boy's jokes are not funny?"

Everyone else paled a little at this.

"Sorry Star, but what gave you the idea that little green's jokes were actually funny?" asked a very worried Cyborg.

"Well, because he's always laughing at them."

Robin release a breath he didn't know he was holdind, and then proceded to face palm himself, chuckling. Similar reactions could be seen on Cyborg, but not at all on Raven. Typical.

Composing himself, Robin tried to explain to the clueless alien just how horrible someone's sense of humor could be. Really, a titanic task.

"Well, you see Star... Beast Boy is... uhm.. well, he is... "

"He is an idiot."

Funny how Raven's way with words could be syntetic, precise and offensive at the same time.

The four of them continued chatting for a while. Well, three, as the goth girl was more nodding and muttering than anything else, but the mood was friendly anyway. The males were arguing about what to watch on the TV, while Starfire annoyed an in-deep-reading Raven, who somehow managed to both read and listen (more or less) to a rambling Star.

 _All in all_ Robin thought to himself _this team is pretty damn good._

It wasn't 30 minutes later that he saw how he overestimated his companions.

It was 8:11 when Beast Boy entered the room. That alone was something pretty much incredible.

Everyone knew how much he liked to sleep in, and him beeing awake so soon could only mean three things: morning patrol duty, morning training session... or rest-of-the-day prank crusade.

You can guess what of theese three options was the most feared...

"Hey guys! What's up!"

Suppressing the urge to cringe at the overly happy voice, Robin and Cyborg greated the changeling back.

"Hey, Beast Boy. Good morning"

"What's up, grass stain! Up early today?"

Only Starfire didn't seem to understand that an early BB equals a late series of headaches, and quickly flew to give him a massive bear hug.

"Friend Beast Boy! How glourious to have you awake at such an early hour! Think of all the things we can do in the extra amount of time we'll be seeing each other today!"

"Hehe, sure Star! I can hardly wait."

Released from the hug (which we won't call deathstroke for copyright issues), Beast Boy turned to face the only team member who had not greeted him yet, a small and evil smile on his features.

"Morning, Raven."

Knowing Raven, SomeGuy expected her to give a small nod, a brief reply, or even no reaction at all. It's still Beast Boy we're talking about, after all.

Well, you can say SomeGuy was a little surprised when, with a loud BANG, she slapped her book close, and then tossed it to the side.

Suddently, the half demon stood up, and made her way in front of the green boy, all while giving him the most impassive face in the history of ever.

All the cheerfullness was now gone, both from the room and from the teen's face. Instead, a profound quiet, a dangerously profound quiet, was now present. Quiet and cold. So cold that they felt like shivering.

Raven face was locked on Beast Boy's, her expression so neutral it was almost painful.

More than neutral, it was uncaring. Completly indifferent to the young hero who stood before her.

Right now, to her he was less than a person, and more of a nuisance.

"I assume you found that amusing."

Her tone wasn't angry, or disappointed, or tired... it was simply...there. No emotion at all.

The changeling looked at her, mouth slightly open and eyes wide. He had hoped to see her smile and/or laught at his prank, he had expected her to be mad at him, furious even. But he never, ever even dreamed of this outcome. He was an emotional guy, and all of this... really hit him hard.

He never got to reply, for she turned around, grabbed her book, and immediately left the room, leaving the four remaining Titans in an uncorfortable silence.

Cyborg was the first to speak, breaking the surrounding tension.

"Oh boy, this time you really made her angry..."

The boy wonder couldn't believe it. _Damn. Damn!_ "Damn it Beast Boy! What did you do to her?"

The shapeshifter roughly shook his head, finding himself at a loss for words.

"...I... I o-only.."

"Beast Boy!" their leader was almost shouting now "Tell me what you did."

"I-it was an harmless prank, ok!" Everyone was giving him strange looks, a mixture of irritation, anger and disappointment. "I just poured a bit of pink paint in her loundry. Non permanent paint, I swear!"

"Why have you done that, friend Beast Boy? You know friend Raven does not like anyone touching her personal objects."

The green hero sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It was an harmless little prank. It was supposed to be funny, to cheer us up. Not... that." he sighed again "Come on guys. It was nothing more than a small bit of paint. It was literally already off! Does that really sounds so bad?"

Despite everything, they all knew he was partially right. Raven washed most of her clothes in one go, but there was no trace of pink on her this morning, meaning she probably scratched it away right off, effectively thwarting the prank. And yet her reaction had been really strong for such a small joke, especially considering what a normal Beast Boy prank was like.

"No, I suppose it doesn't." with an heavy sigh, Robin continued "It's ok. Hopefully there's no permanent damage done. Look guys, I know it's difficult, and we're all new at this, but we are a team, and we must act like one. We must try and be both patient and understanding, and that goes for all of us." He turned around and walked to the door "I'll be sure to tell Raven too." And with that, he was off, probably to the gym to release some stress.

Soon followed Star (who went to the kitchen to prepare some "reconciliation soup", as she called it) and Cyborg (who went to the garage to work on his latest project, a T-Car something, apparently), leaving Beast Boy alone in the living room, zapping through dozens of TV channels.

For some reason, he didn't feel like pranking anymore today.


	2. Annoyance

Annoyance

It was a morning like many others in the living room of the Titans Tower.

"Hey Raven!"

No response.

"Watcha reading?"

Still no response.

"Can I see?"

"Beast Boy, do you need a bath?"

A strange question, you may think. You wouldn't find it so strange had you witnessed Raven ultra-fire-death-glare. Beast boy had, however, and quickly took a couple steps back, raising his hands in a defensive way.

"Ehm, n-no actually... I just had one this morning..."

"Really? Because it seems like you really want another one."

"Aww, come on! I was trying to be nice here! Why do you always have to be so rude?"

At that, Raven slammed her book close, and glared at him venomously.

"Rude? I'm being rude?! You're the one who costantly bothers me, for no real reason, and despite all my requests of being left alone, I'M the rude one?!"

"I'm just trying to make conversation! How can you be part of a team if you're always isolating youself?"

"The team works perfectly fine. And it would work even better if you stopped bothering me."

The two continued arguing for another full ten minutes, before Beast Boy flew through the window and into the bay, while Raven stormed out of the room, probably to the roof for some much needed meditation.

The whole ordeal did not go unnoticed by the other Titans, who were (unsuccessfully) trying to mind their own businnes.

An uncomfortable silence fell on them, no one sure of what to say. While it was always pretty amusing watching the changeling being sort-of bullied by the half demon, throwing someone out of the window was still considered a bit extreme.

"I don't understand." Starfire suddenly said, her eyes a bit watery. "Why are friends Raven and Beast Boy always fighting one another? Are they not friend?"

Really, who tought her the puppy eyes? Someone must have.

Robin struggled to find an appropriate answer, since he refused to even risk hurting her feelings by saying something inappropriate.

It was actually Cyborg the 'smooth' one this time.

"Of course they're friends. Just... well.. see, Rae and BB have very different characters, and sometimes they... disagree on how certain... uhm... things.. should be handled."

The alien was not totally convinced, however.

"But isn't throwing people out of windows a gesture of deep hatred and discord? How can they still be friends after that?"

"It's not that simple, Star..." the boy wonder finally spoke "It's not the first time that Raven reacts so strongly, and Beast boy always came back to annoy her after she cooled down. I guess it's just who they are." He gave a small shrug to empathize his point. "They'll be at each others throat in no time, you'll see."

Still a bit unconvinced, Starfire decided to drop the subject (alongside her head), and moved to the kitchen, likely trying to better her mood through cooking.

Even Cyborg did feel a bit down, and decided to vent his frustration with some good, ol' PvP online game.

In truth, not even Robin was completely sure of his own speech. Raven and Beast boy's relationship had always been a difficult one, and to his dismay, there were little signs of improvement. Sure, on the battlefield they worked actually very well together, they had shown that numerous times. But how long before their incessant arguments would affect their performances? He had little doubt that, had he been the one sent flying into the bay, he wouldn't be able to just shrug it off and pretend in never happened. Unlike Beast Boy. Really, he had no idea how the green titan did it.

He headed for the evidence room, deciding that actually doing something was better than thinking too much, when the alarm ringed.

 _Great, just great._

Opening his communicator, he quickly informed the others.

"We have a problem. An unidentified criminal is giving the police serious trouble. Check the coordinates on your communicators. Titans, GO!"

* * *

"Thank you again, Titans."

"No problem, officer. That's our job."

The teen heroes had just took down a certain "Father Hammer", a fanatical believer of some weird cult, apparently. The guy started bring havoc with a rudimental exosuit and a big, big hammer, smashing everything in his way, all while shouting some nonsense about purification and spirituality. The fight was not as easy at it looked. While his attacks where only on short range, as he lacked any fast-movement upgrade, and all in all easily dodgeable, he simply refused to go down, both thanks to his armor and the 'strength of his beliefs'.

In the end, they brought him down with some (as later one of the officer would say) 'nasty teamwork'. Starfire and Cyborg kept him busy at a distance, throwing starbolts and sound blasts respectively. Robin trapped him in ice with a freeze birdarang, after luring him to a broke hydrant. Beast Boy charged him as a rhino from behind, and launched him several meters ahead. Raven, meanwhile, was chanting her mantra and preparing a spell. Then Beast Boy abruptly morphed into a gorilla, and exploiting the momentum from his previous charge, throw out a very powerful uppercut. That wouldn't have hit anything, hadn't Raven suddenly teleported him in front of the still-flying villain. The blow was absolutely brutal. The armor broke and the poor criminal went crashing against an abandoned bus, unconscious.

The travel back to the tower was a quiet one. Not out of embarrassment or fear.

Cyborg was happy that his car was still in one piece, while Starfire was glad the bandit had been stopped and that her friends were behaving as actual friends. Raven quietly was healing a very pained Beast Boy. Apparently his savage fist didn't only broke Father Hammer suit. At least a dozen bones were shattered in the impact, and the empath started healing him as soon as she was able.

Robin watched his team, and couldn't help but smile. Despite what happened that very morning, they had all worked together, and managed to defeat that freak quite smoothly... except for the changeling hand, of course.

He was particularly impressed with both Beast Boy and Raven, however. And rightly so, he might add. He knew for experience how difficult is to concatenate an attack with one of Raven's spell. The useful ones for that usually required a small chant before, and it can become difficult to synchronize them in the heat of battle. And yet they had done it with a little more than a quick glance and a few words.

 _Huh, I should couple them more often. They're actually really good together. As strange as it seems..._

The silence was suddenly broke by Beast Boy.

"ARGH! That hurt!"

"Beast boy, shut up."

"No! You're hurting me. Stop hurting me!"

"I'm not hurting you, I'm healing you. It's your hand's fault if this hurt."

"How is this my hand's fault? You're the one... ARGH!"

"Can you please be quiet! I'm trying to concentrate here."

"I'm trying too! Do you know what's like having a dozen broken bones at once?"

"Please, as if you knew what 'concentrate' means..."

The other all rolled their eyes as the two started bickering again, but they were also secretly smiling to themself.

They didn't even realize that the two were also smiling, probably having more fun than them.


	3. A Strange Friendship

A Strange Friendship

Today was a hot day in Jump city. A very, very hot day. It might have something to do with a villain threatening to flood the entire city by teleporting an iceberg above it and melting it mid flight... don't ask, please.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that the "hottines was great", as Star wisely put, and that was a villain that not even the Teen Titans, the most unpredictable and probably crazy group of superheroes this side of the galaxy, could hope to defeat.

Well, that's just a little heat wave! That's not so bad, is it?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

No. It was worse.

"Soooo HOT!"

You could say it was a typical morning in the Titans Tower. Starfire was out shopping for an incoming party (at least, that was what the Titans presumed. Did she even need a reason to go to the "mall of shopping"?), Cyborg was calibrating the miniguns in the training ground, Robin was watching TV, zapping through the channels to find anything interesting, Raven was reading a book on the couch, trying (and failing) to shut out the rest of the world, and Beast Boy was complaining and whining and groaning about the heat, and trying (and unlike Raven, succeeding) to be the loudest possible about it. Right next to the half demon, of course.

"Why it's so much HOT!" he practically shouted in her ear. She turned her head, glaring murderously at him. "You know why. After all, this is your fault."

That made Robin, who was sitting a bit farther the two, sigh. He knew it wasn't Beast Boy fault. In truth, it was the empath the responsable for this heat wave. She DID throw Dr. Hurlof at the "Ultimate Great Climate Controlling Machine Device"'s console, after all. But neither of them really cared. Really, any reason was good reason to start bickering, and oh boy if they bickered.

"MY fault!? How was that my fault? You throwed that maniac into all that mechanical stuff, not me!"

She didn't even stop reading to reply. "Only because you didn't stop the robot dog from eating Cyborg's impulse neutralizer." He looked at her almost incredulously. "How could I know it was a remote? I mean, he's Cyborg, he has an arm that can become a freaking cannon, and he still uses remotes? I thought it was, I dunno, integrated, or something..." She returned her glare on him

"You are a Titan, you should always..."

She didn't get to finish, as Robin suddenly got up, startling the fussing duo.

"That's enough. I'm out of here." He gave the couple a disapproving glare, and then exited the room to who knows where.

The two silently looked at each other, small smiles on their faces. Sometimes they forgot that not everyone get some kind of twisted, sick pleasure from playful insults, friendly bickering and innocent physical trauma. Beast Boy grabbed the TV remote, previously under Robin's domain, and started quietly zapping for about two minutes. The time he needed to remember that the temperature was still far too hot.

"Urgh! Soooooo hot..." Raven rolled her eyes, but he somehow heard that. The green teen looked at her for a couple of seconds, and then spoke. "Hey, Ravy..." She immediately gave him a deadly look, her eyes white, full with power and far too empty of mercy. "Call me that one more time, and I will hurt you." He snorted, almost rolling his own eyes, and raised his hands in a surrending gesture.

"Ok. Ok. Geez, you're always so mean..."

She returned to her book, now curious at what he had wanted to say. "So? What did you want?"

He stared at her for a second, his face pensive. It almost looked like he was going to ask a serious question.

"How's that you're not hot?" Her shoulders dropped, and she found herself looking at the roof. Still, she decided to humor him. "I do not complain."

He took a while to process that answer, trying to figure out what she meant, until it hit him. He gave her an incredulous look, his eyes open wide. "What?! That's it? You mean, I stop complaining and I won't suffer like this anymore?"

The half demon smiled at that. "I don't know about that, but I would definitely stop suffering like this anymore."

The changeling dropped at that. "Aww, come on Ravv...en. I thought we were friends! Shouldn't we help each other out!" He stared at her with his puppy eyes, begging her to share her secrets. Too bad she didn't have any, as she was actually very heated herself. Still, the power of the puppy eyes is not so easily bested, and she found herself groaning, before she gave him an answer.

"Fine. I'll think of something. No promises, however."

That was more than enough for him, and with a big smile returned to his unhealthy zapping.

You can guess how much he lasted. Five minutes later he was still suffering from the claws of heat, but could no longer complain, since Raven already agreed to help him.

Glancing around to find anything that could help him in his desperate fight for survival, he finally got an extremely crazy and dangerous idea when his eyes passed by the window.

 _This might just be the bestest idea I ever had._

He got up from the couch, and moved behind the sorceress, an enormous grin plastered on his face the whole time.

Raven almost voiced her curiosity on his strange behavior, when he suddenly embraced her from behind the sofa, his head right beside hers, whispering softly.

"So, Ravy... Thought of anything yet?"

Usually, she would have been utterly confused by this. And mad. In truth, Beast Boy would be long dead by now, had this happened any other time.

But this wasn't any other time. For, you see, she actually had caught him looking at the window just a second before.

A big and sadistic grin grow on her face, and she even laughed softly, before she eventually answered him.

"Ooh yes."

* * *

Robin exited the main room, leaving behind him two now very quiet Titans. Without really knowing what to do, he simply decided to take a walk, letting his brain storm for a while.

He had long since overgrow his worries about the team. The last fight they had, the "Dr. Hurlof case", as he called it, only served as a reminder of how wrong he had been to ever doubt his team. Quite simply, intel had been total crap, and they found themself against a villain much more dangerous and resourceful than they had thought. Still they defeated him almost too easily. Sure, now Jump was stuck with hellish temperatures in February, but it could have gone so much worse that none of them saw it even as collateral damage. Really, only the intel was to blame. Intel given by the Justice League itself...

Bah, arrogant pri... yeah. Sometimes it seemed as if the big shots purposely faulted their missions, even though he didn't have any evidence... or they any reason to...

Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is that his team totally rocks, as Beast Boy once told, and that he, as a leader, couldn't be more proud of them.

Good, now that the leader-side of him had been sated, it was time for the friend-part of him to freak out.

 _What the hell is wrong with those two?!_

He really had no idea of where Beast Boy and Raven stood with each other. They proved times and times again to be a perfect pair in combat, but whenever put in a casual situation they started to bicker and argue and yell and sometimes maim each other...

If he hadn't know better, he might just assume they get some kind of twisted, sick pleasure from playful insults, friendly bickering and innocent physical trauma.

His wandering mind found a possible answer when he entered the training camp, where Cyborg had just finished installing a shiny new cryolator on the main minigun. Freezing bullets oh ho yeah.

At the sight of their leader, the half robot wasted no time and, as he usually did every time he felt too proud of himself, raised up a challenge for his boss.

"Hey, bird-boy, feelin' lucky? You shouldn't, because these babies will sure as hell make a stew outta you! Wanna see who can get the best time?"

Robin however didn't reply. He stopped suddenly, an inquisitive look on his face.

At that Cyborg dropped his cocky smile. Robin didn't back down from a challenge. Ever. Unless Slade or some other problem was on his mind, at least. "Somethin' wrong? You just gotta blow off some steam?" Still nothing. Something had to be wrong. "Robin? What happened? Is it Slade? Trigon? The end of the universe? Starfire?"

Suddenly, the acrobat turned his head to look at him.

"Cyborg, can I ask you something?"

 _Huh?_ "Yeah... sure, why not." He was confused. Robin asking to ask? So it really was the end of the universe. Or Starfire. He shuddered internally.

"What do you think of Beast Boy and Raven?"

Ok, now he was totally lost. "BB and Rae? What about them? They didn't kill each other, did they?"

The leader quickly clarified. "No no, nothing happened. Just... what's your opinion on their relationship?"

This was all very hard for Robin. He was Batman's protegee, dammit! He was supposed to be one of the best detective world wise! But despite all of his intuition, his skills and training, he simply couldn't figure those two out. Asking for Cyborg's help had been an hard blow for him, and they both knew it.

Cyborg, on the other hand, couldn't in a hundred years have seen this coming. He had always wondered what kind of bond Beast Boy and Raven shared, but had never been able to really figure it out. In truth, he hoped Robin would one day be the one to enlight him, but his last question crushed that hope with the same monstrous and utterly unnecessary strength of one of Starfire's hug.

What could he say to help the poor detective?

He settled for the little he knew.

"Well, I think they're friends, despite how they seem to hate each other. Sure, they keep arguing, but they never really hurt-hurt each other, if you know what I ..."

 **CRASH!**

 **AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

 **SPLASH!**

...

Ok, maaaybe he knew less than he thought.

"BEAST BOY!" They both shouted, running to draw out the bay they're little, green friend.

The leader jumped into the water, while Cyborg stood on shore, preparing any medical devices they might need. After a couple of seconds, the detective emerged from below the water, dragging with him a... laughing Beast Boy?

Fearing for mental damage, the half robot scanned his best friend from head to toes, but found absolutely nothing wrong with the now lying and... smiling... green teen.

Robin quickly activated his serious mode, giving the changeling a stern face.

"Beast Boy, what happened? What have you done this time? And why are you still laughing?"

"Musta've been one hell of a prank..." Muttered Cyborg, but neither of them got any direct answers.

Instead, Beast Boy spread his arms and legs open, and said to himself "Gotta thanks Rae later..."

The other two boys' eyes went wide open at that, but they said nothing, as the changeling continued.

"Ahhhh... sooo fresh..."

Still not believing what they had just witnessed, Robin and Cyborg slowly got up, and looked at each other. Then at Beast Boy. The now broken window. And finally each otehr again.

"Yeah... well I.. uh..gotta go. Go. Bye." And with that, the half robot was gone.

Robin stood there for a while longer, impassive to the green boy's sighs of relief.

Eventually he snapped out of it, and, with a quick apology, left the crime scene.

What could he say? He supposed that, in the end, Beast Boy and Raven truly were great friends.

...after all, true friends will do anything for you, right?

 **Hey there! Just wanted to thank everyone. You have no idea of much that means.**


	4. Something Unexpected

Something Unexpected

"We've done it team... we survived."

It was 8 in the morning, and the Teen Titans had just barely came out one of the most terrifying night they ever had.

"Are you sure man? It could come back." Cyborg usually happy and reassuring tone was replaced by a weary and tired one. It seams even the half-robot could only bear so much.

"Positive, it's been almost 3 hours since the last wave. No villain would wait the morning to deliver the final strike."

"You are probably correct, but I am still the worried. We never faced something like that... for all we know it could come back stronger at any moment." If Cyborg might have seemed exhausted, then Starfire was basically a walking corpse. The events of the previous night really did a number on her emotional balance, leaving her extremely tired and weakened.

"Trust me, whatever that was, it's gone now. Besides, we can't waste any more time. We have to find them." Oh yes, and Beast Boy and Raven were missing.

What could have happened to the young heroes last night? I mean, two are MIA, the other three barely standing. Surely it must have been terrifying, relentless and brutal. Something so powerful that not even the defeaters of Slade, Trigon the Terrible, and a considerable number of other, minor villains here and there, could stand against.

So, what was it? The Titans had absolutely no idea.

It didn't even make sense! _Who would make such a move? Ok, actually a lot would. What was the goal then? Ransom for Raven and Beast Boy lives? Then why the continued, unregular assault? Why didn't they stop after the capture? Maybe it was an intimidating move? If so it damn sure worked. But then again why kidnap their teammates? Maybe a mix of both? It was possible, but highly unlikely, given the circumstances of the siege. Was it even an enemy's attack..?_

Questions like these tormented the boy wonder's mind, but in truth he couldn't find any logical answers. Starfire and Cyborg too tried to make some sense out of that mess, but no luck either. The alien was too worried about her friends, and had to concentrate on happy thoughts just to be sure her powers were available in case of another attack, and the processor inside the half-robot hero couldn't associate what had transpired to any know villain, much less how or why it happened.

So, what happened exactly? The day before had actually been a very plain and somewhat boring one. The whole city had been more tranquil as of late, but that's nothing new; after all there were only so much "courageous ones" willing to face the infamous team, and it happened that most of them were in jail.

Robin started his day in gym, keeping up his hard regime of training. After launch he and Starfire went to the shopping mall almost all afternoon, where they also bought the film the whole team watched before calling it a day. Same for the alien princess, only her morning had been spent first in the kitchen, experimenting on some new ingredients she managed to get her hands on, and then zapping through several culinary channels on the TV, trying to understand why eggs and chocolate didn't mix well with meat, while apparently they did in cakes, pies, ect ect.

Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven started their day together with some good videogames (not Raven of course, who simply read a book while sometimes making some sarcastic comment on the boys performances, but for the empath that's still a lot), which led to some disturbing images when Starfire embarked on her food-crusade, thanks to some way too detailed cooking methods. After that Cyborg went in the garage, where he worked for the rest of the day on his new project (a moped... yes, a moped for Beast Boy, who "accidently" discovered some nice, top tier blackmail material on his robotic friend...but that's completely another story not at all tied to some exchange involving said moped and photos, not at all), while the empath and changeling went to the roof to spend some quality-reading time (of course, the kind of reading the two undertook were very, veeery different from one another, but for some time now those two had started spending a lot of time together, doing the most different things one could imagine, so that hardly struck the team as strange).

Really, nothing so special about it. Just a tipical off-day for the Titans.

Trouble, however, hit deep into the night.

It was about midnight when things started to get weird.

It started with some small earthquakes, not strong enough to damage the heroes' headquarters, but still capable of waking a light-sleeper like Robin. He didn't thought much of it at first; they were still on the american west coast after all, so some minor quakes were not so rare. And anyway, the tower was built to resist much more than that. After 10 minutes or so, however, he started to get a bit worried. He got up and headed for the main room, where he was unsurprised to find also Cyborg and Starfire. Before any of them could even ask what was happening, or where Beast Boy and Raven were, they found out the second surprise of the night.

Several objects, all around the tower, started to fly randomly around. Amongst the confusion, they failed to notice that some of them had actually started to come to life, immediately attacking the group of young heroes.

The first thing they all thought of was, of course, Control Freak. The wanna-be villain had an habit of using the surrounding battlefield as a weapon against the Titans, but he never had much luck with that strategy, and this time was no different.

The theory of Control Freak crumbled, however, when suddenly everything in the room stopped moving, followed by a loud crash as all the objects that just a second before were trying to kill them violently came crashing down.

Not even a minute passed that another surprise hit them. A loud and high-pitched screech, apparently coming from all directions, got the small team on combat position again. Another earthquake followed, this time much stronger than before. It was about this time that Robin started wondering where the hell Beast Boy and Raven were. There was no way either of them didn't ear what had happened, so why weren't they here? Maybe they were fighting somewhere else?

Deciding that being separated was a very bad idea, and that the situation right now, despite how unsettling, was not life threatening, the leader quickly lead his team to both the empath and changeling's rooms, and to they dismay they found them empty. Even worse, they found their communicators. A Titan never, ever leaves his/hers communicator, or at least not intentionally, so that could mean only one thing: whoever was attacking had already took down two of them, and that was bad.

It was around this time, at almost 1 in the night, that things really started to get out of control.

They regrouped at the main hall, the situation had seemingly calmed down, and Robin suggested taking patrol duty, both to explore the tower for any problems, both to bait out of hiding their attacker.

The boy wonder took first turn, and after promising a very worried Starfire to call if anything seemed wrong, he exited the main door... only to come back two seconds later.

"All clear. There's nothing outside either, but I think... ehm, guys?"

Cyborg and Starfire looked at him with eyes wide open. Did they heard him right?

"Robin, what are you talking about? You just get out there," the half-robot spoke with a very low and careful voice. He had no idea on how to deal with this whole ordeal.

"What? No, I just got here. I went out patrolling, remember?"

"But that's impossible! Robin, you left not even a minute ago, you can't possibly be that fast!" Starfire's voice was a lot more emotional than Cyborg's had been. She didn't understand what was happening, her friends had disappeared, and now this?

"A minute? Guys, I left an hour ago."

The two Titan's eyes opened wide. "What?! " Cyborg shouted. "That's impossible! It's not even 1 pas..." A quick glance at the clock stopped him. It showed 2 past midnight.

"How..?" Starfire must have seen it too, for she looked as baffled as the robotic titan.

"Time bubbles." Robin's answer came quickly and decisive. "Whoever we're facing can manipulate time."

Cyborg groaned in defeat. This was getting out of hand.

"You've got to be kidding me... a time controller too?!

"Robin... what do we do?" The leader looked at Starfire, a determined scowl on his face.

"We have to get out the tower. I don't know what we're facing, but in here we are too vulnerable. If we can get out, maybe we can get a better view of the whole picture, and come up with a plan."

Nodding, the other two followed the Titan's leader to the main entrance and into the elevator, only to find themself.. in the gym?

"What...?" They exited the elevator, but when they looked behind it was no longer there, replaced by the usual door.

"Oh, come on!"

They made their way out the gym for the exit once more, only to appear in the kitchen.

"Damn... it seems like we're not getting out..." Cyborg had to admit it: he was getting a little worried here.

"It looks like our enemy can manipulate space too... "

Before any of them could say something else, another earthquake shook the tower, followed by another wave of animated moving objects, which were quickly displaced by the young heroes.

The fight didn't last longer than 5 minutes, but the effects of the time manipulation made themself clear again, and the three Titans found themself in the main room, at 5 in the morning.

"Ok, that's it. Titans, we're not moving. Fortify the hall; we want to be ready for anything they might throw at us. If they really want us, they'll have to come and get us. I don't want to walk into a trap."

As it later turned out, that had not been necessary in the end. The remaining Titans found themself still there three hours later, with no further attacks or strange shit having happened.

And that's how the night went. It was morning now, and the heroes started planning their next move.

"Trust me, whatever that was, it's gone now. Besides, we can't waste any more time. We have to find them."

Cyborg and Starfire both nodded. They hadn't forget about their friends, but could not come up with any way to help them. They were trapped inside the tower, and somehow their communicators didn't work, so they had been completely isolated and powerless to help them.

"Let's see if we can leave now. I get the feeling we will be able to this time."

The boy wonder led the two at the main entrance, and as he predicted, this time they had no trouble at all exiting the building, or even the island, as Starfire proved flying on the other side of the shore.

Feeling satisfied with those results, Robin went back into the tower, followed by the other two Titans.

"Very well team. Grab everything you need; we're going to BEAST BOY!"

To the three of them bafflement, there was Beast Boy, casually flipping channels on the TV, having breakfast with a bowl of soy milk and cereals.

The unfortunate heroes mouths dropped to the floor almost loudly, so much loudly that the changeling must have heard them cracking the floor, as he turned around to watch them.

"Whassup, dudes? You seem aARGH!" He never got to finish, as an overjoyed alien princess flight right into him, knocking him into the floor in a massive bear hug.

"Oh friend Beast Boy, I'm so the happy! We were so worried for you!"

"Ah.. ah.. eheh, come on Star, I-I mean, t-there's nothing to worry about! Nothing at all!"

Before Robin o Cyborg could say anything, another presence made itself know in the room.

"Friend Raven!" The empath, who had just entered the room with a cup of tea in hand, found herself victim of another one of Starfire's deadly hugs.

"Urgh...Star... can't... breath.."

"Oh! Sorry friend, but I'm so overjoyed to find you unharmed and well! You have no idea how worried we all were last night!"

And then Raven did something nobody really expected, but only Robin found really strange.

She blushed.

 _...what?_

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, Star..."

Cyborg, who had been in silence from the start, too astounded to say anything coherent, finally decided to voice his mind.

"Wait, wait, wait... You mean you don't know what happened last night?"

Apparently he must have said something wrong, because both Raven and Beast Boy eyes went wide open.

"NO!" Both of them immediately shouted.

"Nothing happened!" Beast Boy.

"Nothing at all!" Raven.

"I mean, it's absurd even to think it!" Beast Boy again.

"Yeah, completely absurd!" Raven again.

"Besides, we can't stand each other!" Beast Boy.

"Yeah, he's annoying!" Raven.

"And she's mean!" Beast Boy.

The other Titans watched them as a kid would watch a karmkorf... well, they were confused. Raven and Beast Boy, in the meanwhile, had started watching everything in the room but each other, both of them red as tomatoes.

Robin was the first to break up the incredibly awkard silence, and all he managed to say was:

"...what?"

Another full minute of silence passed, and then the changeling came up with an idea.

"I know your problem!" _OUR problem?!_ The three unfortunate Titans thought at the same time. "You must be hungry!"

Before any of them could explain that that was absolutely not their problem, Raven, still mildly blushing, quickly headed to the kitchen. "Gar's right. I'll make some pancakes!"

"I'll help!" And with that, both of them were gone, leaving the other three behind with their common thoughts, first of all _Who the hell is Gar?_

About 10 minutes later, they were all sitting at the dinner table, eating... "pancakes"... and doing everything but talking... or eating.

Robin looked at the two lucky ones with an inquisitive glare, wondering what was wrong with them. Speaking of the devil, Beast Boy and Raven were sitting side by side, not even watching the..."food"... but trying to look as casual as possible, and spectacularly failing at that too.

The empath was playing with her hair (something she never, ever did) and the changeling was tugging his uniform in several different places (which he did only when extremely nervous).

Before the leader could come up with a conclusion for their strange behavior, however, a small detail missed by the Titan's leader lit a light bulb in the alien head.

"I know what happened!" She exclaimed, much to Raven and Beast Boy terror.

The boy wonder looked at the princess "What? Please, tell us!"

"It was a vampire!"

...

Silence.

"What?" They all asked at the same time.

"Yes, I saw a documentary once that explained all the different powers that human's vampire have. Our enemy is a vampire!"

Before any of them could explain her that Supernatural and Twilight were not classified as "documentaries", Robin asked her: "Sorry Star, why do you think it was a vampire, and not someone else?"

"Two main reasons!" She happily said "First, it attacked us at night, only to disappear with the rising of the Sun." _Ok, I suppose it makes some sense "_ And second, Beast Boy has been bitten!"

...

Robin and Cyborg immediately looked at the green teen, and sure enough, someone had bitten him on the neck.

Hard.

Beast Boy blushed.

Raven blushed too.

They both blushed. A lot.

 **CRASH**

Cyborg instantly stood up, not caring that he overthrow good part of what was on the table on the floor in the process.

"Oh... I see..." His face was totally and completely blank, devoid of any visible emotion. "I'll be in the garage if any... I'll be in the garage."

And with that, he left the scene.

Robin instead could only stare at the two with an extremely shocked face. He couldn't believe it!

 _That was... did they... they DID! It... it could...that..._

The leader stood up too, his face now unreadable.

"Oh... I see.. I'll be in the gym if any... I'll be in the gym."

And with that, he left the scene too.

That only left Starfire, who had completely missed the implications.

"Robin? Wait, Robin, please do the explaining to me too!"

And with that, she left the scene too, leaving only a still blushing Raven and Beast Boy behind.

They reimained there in an awkard silence for a minute or two, when they suddently looked at each other, small smiles on both of their faces.

Beast Boy took her hand under the table, and hers tightened around his, turning the awkwardness into comfort.

They both stayed there in silence for a while, wondering how they should confront the team about them, when the changeling finally decided to speak.

"So... I guess we're not the only ones here who have just experienced an unforgettable night, huh?"

Raven glared at him.

Beast Boy gave her a toothy grin.

She slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch!"


End file.
